<p>I've heard that it's possible to take final exams for certain courses in the summer session and pass it for credit without taking the course. I would only need a 70% to pass and it wouldn't count for my GPA. Seeing as how my current fall schedule is fairly loaded with 18 credits, it would be nice if I could get Linear Algebra out of the way so I would only have to deal with 16 credits. I find that many of the concepts are things I've already learned in high school (cross product, determinant, inverse of a 2x2), and now I have a good grasp on the more advanced topics (eigenvalues, eigenvectors, Gauss-Jordan elimination, inverse of a 3x3) after some tutoring. Should I go ahead and take the exam, or should I just take the class and blaze through it for the small GPA boost?</p>
<p>dfmlege, I suggest taking the class.</p>
<p>I’m taking the summer session class, and I find it very very interesting!</p>
<p>Like you, I also knew most of the stuff in Linear Algebra, but they apply all the concepts to different fields. I’ve learned about things in electrical engineering and statistics in this class.</p>
<p>And yes, it is very easy (so far, at least), but it’s also very applicable. I suggest you take it just for the applications, because I doubt you know all of those features.</p>
<p>BTW,</p>
<p>Whats your course schedule for Fall, maybe we’re in the same class!</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m leaning towards taking the class since I know that it’s not that hard a class.</p>
<p>If I were to take the class, am I allowed to take the tests whenever I want? Or are there specific dates for certain exams?</p>
<p>How are the applications integrated into the course? Since I’m thinking about a CS-Math double major, there would probably be a bunch of useful applications.</p>
<p>Here’s what my schedule looks like right now:</p>
<p>CS 2114 Software Design and Data Structures (3 credits)
ENGE 1024 Engineering Exploration (2 credits)
Seminar course (2 credits, but they don’t count towards graduation requirements)
GEOG 1014 World Regions (3 credits)
MATH 1114 Elementary Linear Algebra (2 credits)
MATH 1224 Vector Geometry (2 credits)
PHYS 2305 Foundations of Physics I (4 credits)
Total: 18 credits</p>
<p>Linear Algebra is usually online, so I’ll assume you’re taking it at the Empo.</p>
<p>You have to take the exams before a specific time, so it can be self-paced.</p>
<p>Applications are usually just story problems, usually based on basic electrical engineering.</p>
<p>I’m also taking ENGE 1024, PHYS 2305, and MATH 1224…</p>
<p>As a side note, were there a ton of kids at your orientation who had no AP credit? I was in the engineering one, and half the class didn’t have any.</p>
<p>I don’t really remember, but whenever the adviser said “who here has AP credit” there were some people who raised their hands. Also, I saw that the two guys sitting next to me had transfer credit, though some of them were from dual-enrollment. All of my credits were from AP exams.</p>
<p>At the high school I graduated from, AP does NOT exist. This was due primarily to a lack of professors who could teach it, funding from the state, and the very low school statistics. My high school just thought that AP would be beneficial to maybe 2-3% of each class since the average SAT score for Cr+M+W was around an 1100. Most students who would take the class would either drop or fail it. It just wasn’t worth their time, so they set up the dual enrollment system through the local community college (That is where 99% of my graduation class went anyway). Through that is how I earned most of my CLE requirements at Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>As for your original question, I honestly would take the Linear Algebra summer exam.</p>
<p>I took the course in the Fall of last year and it is a complete joke. I scored 100% on every online quiz and 15-18/18 on all of the tests. I got a 90% on the Final Exam, which was 25 questions.</p>
<p>Everything you mentioned in your original post was in the course and that was honestly about it. As long as you know how to add matrices, do dot and cross products, do eigenvalues/eigenvectors, and some determinants, you could definitely pull off the exam with 70%+.</p>
<p>You can find course material on the Math website if you would like to look at the course and see if you think it is do-able. </p>
<p>[Math</a> 1114](<a href=“http://www.emporium.vt.edu/math1114/]Math”>http://www.emporium.vt.edu/math1114/)</p>